title: Cryptic or mystic? Glacial tree refugia in northern Europe.
abstract: Here, we examine the evidence for tree refugia in northern Europe during the Late Pleniglacial (LPG) interval of maximum tree-range contraction. Our review highlights the often equivocal nature of genetic data and a tendency to overestimate potential tree distributions due to warm climate-model bias, and also reveals a convergence of macrofossil and pollen evidence. What emerges is the absence of temperate trees north of 45°N and a west-east (W-E) asymmetry in boreal tree distribution, with a treeless Western Europe north of 46°N, while restricted boreal populations persisted in Eastern Europe up to 49°N, and higher latitudes east of the Fennoscandian ice-sheet. These results have implications for current thinking on European genetic diversity patterns, species migration capacity, and conservation strategies.
authors.affiliation: Department of Geography, University College London, London, WC1E 6BT, UK. Electronic address: p.c.tzedakis@ucl.ac.uk.
authors.forename: P C
authors.initials: PC
authors.lastname: Tzedakis
authors.forename: B C
authors.initials: BC
authors.lastname: Emerson
authors.forename: G M
authors.initials: GM
authors.lastname: Hewitt
mesh_terms: D005060:Europe; D005580:Fossils; D005843:Geography; D046448:Ice Cover; D011058:Pollen; D014197:Trees / Q000235:genetics